The summer holidays are coming to an end and you are already off to a new year, full of challenges! This is a great opportunity for you, e-merchant, since according to GfK , this 2021 start of the school year will bring in nearly 600 million euros in turnover . As you will have understood, after the sales , the start of the school year is THE period not to be missed for the success of your year .
Currently, many e-commerce players are studying their marketing plan. And with the holiday season fast approaching, it's the perfect time to update and optimize your online store . You will then be able to offer special back-to-school offers, diversify your sales channels and prepare your end-of-year calendar , while reassuring your prospects. So, to your keyboards, Pikka details all the good actions to put in place to get your business back in the best light and make your return to school a success!
The evolution of consumer behavior
With the health crisis, buyers have evolved in their means of consumption and are much more attentive to the origin of products and their price. Thus, with the explosion of e-commerce, it has become much easier to compare the same product on different private sale and discount sites . Since then, we have been able to see the notion of omnichannel appear at the heart of consumer demands . Based on this premise, it then becomes essential to stand out from your competitors via various acquisition channels (which we will discuss below).
A revisited marketing and acquisition strategy
Whatever your sector of activity, this commercial period is important to boost your sales and end your year in style. More simply, a successful return to school is synonymous with success for your end of the year, with 30 to 40% more turnover for your business . So, to achieve this, follow the guide.
Offer bundled back-to-school offers
At this time and even more with the crisis, consumers are looking for practice and good deals, while having fun . We all know that going back to school has a certain cost. So this is an opportunity for you to offer attractive prices on your eshop , in particular through attractive and differentiating packaged offers . This is the principle of cross-selling. Thus, you will be able to attract and then convince your visitors to buy from you rather than from your competitors.
By creating these specific back-to-school offers - in the form of bundles that combine several complementary products at an attractive price - you will increase the perceived value of your products, inflate the average basket of your customers and purify your overstock, if necessary.
From a more technical point of view, to create these bundled offers, you can go through applications available in the Shopify App Store , such as ZeBundler and Bundle Builder , or call on our Pikka experts .
Establish a communication plan around your offers
Indeed, as obvious as it may seem, for your customers and prospects to learn about your offers , you must first inform them. Since then, several options are available to you to set up a good communication : you can communicate on your offers directly on social networks or on Facebook ads to reach more people or create an e-mail campaign for your customers .
Don't worry, Shopify has everything covered, via its Shopify Marketing tab in your store's admin, which will allow you to create, send and track your emails, to know the impact . Thus, you will be able to test the loyalty of your customers over this decisive period.
Update your e-commerce site
You will have to adapt your merchant site to the current trend . Your visitors must immediately understand that you offer products or services related to the start of the school year . You can highlight your back-to-school offers with banners on your home page or by creating specific collections in your menu such as “back to school” or “back to school”.
You must therefore highlight as many products as possible related to this period on your website while meeting their expectations: back-to-school essentials, bargains, promotions, etc. It is not the ideas that are lacking. But you must also take care of your different product sheets to attract and seduce your audience .
Optimizing your product pages
By optimizing your product sheets, you will breathe new life into your site and ultimately your brand . It is therefore essential to rework the pages of products whose sales are down or even those that have a high return rate. You will thus improve the referencing of these web pages and reduce the barriers to purchase among your potential customers.
Several points are to consider when updating :
- check the price of your items against your competitors. If some of your product pages have a high bounce rate, that's likely a sign that those items are being overpriced . In this case, a small benchmark to align yourself with the prices of your competitors could be beneficial to you.
- the detailed description of your products is essential to inform your customers, but also to improve your referencing on search engines . Very clearly, meeting SEO objectives is essential for your prospects to find you on the web. But don't forget that you have to go directly to them . Therefore, your product descriptions must seduce your visitors and distinguish themselves from your competitors to encourage your customers to buy . Originality is therefore essential and customers like to be told a story . Thus, exit the complete technical description, cold and impersonal. Your customers want proximity . You will therefore have to compose a pleasant and attractive story , while bringing to it the technical expertise of your products .
- your product images are much more impactful than any speech. It's simple, your visitors must project themselves through your images before buying your product. Thus, your visitors must be able to clearly identify the different characteristics of your products : size, color, material, use and handling, for technical products. Without this information, your prospects won't be able to realize what's intangible and you 'll miss out on a potential sale or worse, generate multiple sales that will result in costly returns for you. It is therefore essential that you produce quality photos to reassure your buyers and remove all their barriers to purchase .
- product videos are now a must for your visitors. With the expansion of the video format in recent years - through social media, tutorials, influencers, etc. - you will be able to bring the most qualitative content to your products . By creating immersive and explainer videos , you can show your customers how to interact , use or configure your products . There is nothing more impactful to make your customers buy.
- customer reviews are now an integral part of a good customer experience. These represent a guarantee of confidence for your visitors and we all tend to dwell on them before making any purchase. With 88% of internet users looking at customer reviews , you can't overlook this part . You must therefore respond to each of your customer reviews with diplomacy, especially for the less advantageous comments. It is also through these few disputes that your clients will become aware of your seriousness and your professionalism . We even invite you to follow up with your customers after purchase to collect their opinions and bring your brand image to life . Your customers will be able to leave you notes or comments, and even include some photos of their own experience with your articles.
All these updates on your content will allow you to improve your natural referencing and remove any barriers to purchase . But just like the product sheets, the various services available to your customers can make all the difference.
Services that make it easier for your customers
Shipping costs
When ordering on the web, we have all noticed the surplus caused by delivery costs , which only appears at the last stage and can slow down your customers from validating their basket . Between too long delivery times, too high costs, unreliable or even unknown carrier, this part has enough to stop more than one. But if you display from the start your shipping times as well as the amount of these costs in the basket , then you will reduce this famous abandonment rate and gain in customer satisfaction .
convenience services
Do you sell products with high added value at fairly expensive prices? So having a payment solution in installments at no cost can clearly encourage your visitors to make a purchase . By offering them this type of service, you will be able to reach more visitors, and even increase your average basket .
Security as asserting
Customer data
With all the scams on the web, your visitors need more than ever to be reassured about the seriousness of your website . Beyond data security , your visitors fear never receiving their order or receiving a product completely different from the one desired. To reassure them, you will therefore have to be completely transparent. Clearly display your contact details and a telephone number for customer service on your e-shop. In case of concerns, we always prefer to interact directly rather than through impersonal and endless processes. These elements are mandatory and must appear in your legal notices (usually displayed at the bottom of the page, in the footer of your site), but only you can decide on their ease of access on your website . So do your best to be as transparent as possible for your visitors.
SSL certificate
Beyond the aspect purely related to your business, your customers also need to be reassured about the security of the data they will share with you when creating their account to place an order. This data may be personal data comprising surname, first name, address, date of birth, building access code, telephone number, but also their bank details. In our case, if you have a Shopify store, you benefit from a free SSL certificate for your website . Thus, you guarantee the security of all payments made on your e-shop and it is a guarantee of quality and non-negligible security for those who are cautious about online purchases.
Diversify your sales channels
You will no doubt have noticed that the e-commerce market is quite diversified. But there are a few essentials with marketplaces like Amazon, Rakuten or Cdiscount, which are constantly developing. A veritable Swiss army knife for all needs, these marketplaces delight consumers, but also sellers . Thanks to their notoriety, they can clearly allow you to achieve unprecedented visibility and increase your sales . From then on, it becomes obvious to integrate these sales channels to boost your visibility and your sales will benefit you. To do this, you will need to integrate apps from the Shopify App Store, or simply request one from our Pikka experts .
Towards the end of the year
You are now ready for this new year! And even if it means getting off to a flying start, you might as well see further and anticipate this end of the year with the holidays . Between Halloween, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, there is no shortage of commercial holidays to allow you to sell your products. So don't waste time and start planning this end of the year with targeted marketing actions . This return to school is only a repetition of your end of the year.
Our Pikka experts as guarantors of your success
All these processes seem long and tedious to set up and you lack time? To support you and update your e-shop , our experts can help you and update your e-shop.
